This male acrobat was likely the handle of a bronze cosmetic container (cista). These vessels, often found in the graves of wealthy women, were used to store their toiletries. Attached to the lids of cistae, such handles often took fanciful forms; pairs of mythological figures or wrestlers were common handle motifs. This acrobat was attached to the lid by his hands and feet. Acrobats were popular performers in ancient times. They are known from a description of a private party in Xenophon’s 5th- century BCE work Symposion, and are depicted on a wide range of utilitarian objects, from vases to spoons.

Sarah Ganz Blythe, ed., Manual: a journal about art and its making (Providence: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design) Issue 3 (Fall 2014): 1-62.